Gam plow



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. H. HOLSOLAW.

GANG PLOW. No. 530,047. Patented Nov.'27, 1894,

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(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- W. H. HOLSOLAW.

GANG PLOW. No. 530,047. Patented Nov. 27, 1894.

Wnesses; i Q 1527/ LWZWL 4 7m? MWZW WILFORD H. HOLSOLAW, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR AVERY & SONS, OFSAME PLACE.

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GANG-PLOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,047, dated November 27, 1 894.

Application filed May 24, 1894:. Serial No 512,257. (No modelfi To a/Zbwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILFORD H. HOLSCLAW,

of Louisville, in the'county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a certain 5 new and useful Improvement in Gang-Flows;

tion.

My invention relates to what are usually denominated wheeled plows, either walking, or riding, and which may have either one, or more, plows; although it is more especially adapted to that species of wheeled plows, in

which a gang of two, or more, plows are connected together, or depend from a single frame, or beam; and it consists, essentially, in, first, a novel construction, or combination of devices, by means of which the plowman may first, easily adjust the machine with the 'wheels set at the proper elevation, to open the first furrow, and may, subsequently to the cutting of said furrow, adjust the furrow- 2 wheel, With-perfect certainty, so that the lowermost point in its periphery will be in exactly the same horizontal plane in which lie the bottoms of the plows; and can, there after, manipulate the machine, to vary the 0 depth of plowing, without, in the least, changing the relationship of the furrow-wheel and the plows; and, second, in a novel construction of the draft, or hitching, devices of wheeled plows, by means of which the line of 5 draft may be materially shifted, or varied, in

any requisite direction, by simply loosening and retightening a single bolt, by means of which the adjustable parts may be relatively moved and relocked together; all as will be 40 hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more particularly pointed out and defined in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvements relate, to make and use 5 wheeled plows containing, either in whole,0r

in part, my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the latter, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown the several parts of my invention carried into effect under those precise details of construction which I have so far employed.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a perspective view of a wheeled plow, made according to my invention. Fig. 2, is apartial top view of the same. Fig. 3, is a partial side elevation of the same, looking at the machine from a point of view opposite to that from which the machine is seen in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1,I have shown the machine with the furrow wheel adjusted to that relationship with the bottoms of the plows, which it must always occupy while the machine is working, and after having opened the first furrow; while in Fig. 3 I have shown said furrow wheel elevated, relatively to the beams of the plow, and in the position in which it would have to be set, to permit the plows to open the first furrow, and in the several figures, the same part will be found always designated by the same letters and numerals of reference.

0 is the main frame, or beam-like portion of the machine, from which extend downwardly the curved metallic standards b (in the case shown three), which carrythe plows 6; while P is the land-wheel, and f the furrow-wheel.

As clearly shown,the land-wheel P is hung on the lowermost portion g of a crank-axle, the obliquely ascending, or bent portion h of which ascends to the vicinity of suitable journal boxes securely attached to the main frame O of the machine, within which journal boxes the upper horizontal portiont' of said crank shaft is hung and supported, in the well known manner; while the furrowwheel f is mounted, as seen, on the lower horizontal portion of another crank axle m, the uppermost horizontal portion 71. of which axle is journaled in suitable boxes to, that are securely bolted to the forward portion of the main frame. of the machine.

On the upper horizontal portion 1' of the rear crank-axle, is mounted, or hung, to turn freely thereon, a cast iron knee, or angular device A, to the upper, rearwardly projecting, leg of which is securely bolted the lower end, or root,of the main hand lever B, which is provided with a latch bar and trigger device ll (of the usual construction), for effooting, at pleasure, an engagement between said lever B, and a notched segment bar H, the lower end of which is securely bolted to the main frame of the machine; all as clearly shown. To this main lever B is securely fastened a toothed segment D, with which, through the medium of a trigger device and latch bolt 12, may be engaged,or disengaged, at pleasure, a hand lever O, the lower endof which is pivotally connected with the device A, and which, through the medium of a connecting rod, or bar E, extending downwardly therefrom to the part 72/ of the rear crank axle,is employed to raise and lower that portion 9 of said axle, on which the landwheel is mounted; in order to adjust said wheel, as may be requisite.

On the land side end It, so to speak, of the forward crank-axle that projects beyond one of its journal boxes to, is securely mounted, or keyed fast, the h lib-like portion of a cranklike casting F, the upper portion, or end, of which is coupled, by a connecting rod G with the angular portion of the casting or device A, so that, as showmany vibratory motion of the device A,on the part 2I,of the lower crank axle, will impart a motion, like in kind and extent, to the crank-like casting" F of the forward, or furrow-wheel axle; and (for a purpose to be presently explained), the connecting rod, or pitman, G, is made in two parts,

connected by a turn buckle, or take-up device, a

K is a draft-bar c0upled,about as usual, at its upper rear end, to the upper portion of the rear crank axle of the machine, and provided at its forward end, with an eye or ring, for the convenient coupling of the team to the plow, and having its forward end supported in the perforation at, or near, thelower end of an adjustable draft rod slide L. This slide L comprises, as clearly shown, an 0blong plate, perforated, as above stated, near its lower end, and having a longitudinal slot, or oblong aperture, through which works a single securing bolt, (1, by means of which, with its accompanying nut, said device L, together with the forward half N of a radially serrated, or toothed dial-like device, are securely fastened to the other half M of the toothed adjusting dial, which latter part M is, at its rear, flanged over and secured to, the vertically depending end-portion of the landing, or d aft, lever J; all in such manner that, by simply loosening the nut of bolt (Z, the plate L may be moved in the direction of its length, relatively to the dial-like device N, (between the guide-ways of which it is then free to slide;) whereupon the said guideplate N may be also disengaged from, and partially rotated relatively to, its stationary mate M; after which the parts may be reloeked, or securely fastened together again; and by means of such adjustment, it will be seen, the plate L (being moved longitudinally and also rotated about the axis of the bolt d), may have its lower perforated end set in various positions, to shift the forward end of the draft bar K both vertically and laterally,

asoccasion may require.

The landing, or draft, lever J is pivoted, about as usual, in an oblique position, to a cross-bar, or piece 15, near the forward end of the main frame of the machine, and is pro vided with the usual form of latch-bar and trigger 13, by means of which it may bethrown into and out of engagement with the ordinary toothed segment L, that, usual, is securely bolted to the frame 0.

In order to permit the necessary free pivotal action of the lower end of the lever G, around about the same belt which serves also to secure the extreme lower end of the lever B to the casting A, 1 preferably sleeve said bolt, with a short tube, of a length slightly greater than the bore, or eye, in the lower end of the lever C, so that, while the nut applied to the outer end of the belt which couples all the parts together, will bearon the outer end of the said sleeve, and. thus rigidly fasten the lower end of lever B to the casting A, the lower perforated end of lever G, will not be pinched, in bolting together the other parts; but will be left free to turn on the said sleeve, as its pivotal point.

If it be desired to ride, instead of walk hehind the gang, a plowmans seat of ordinary construction, with its ground wheel, may be bolted,or otherwise secured, in the usual manner, to the rearmost standard of the machine; and in working, or using, the gang plow shown, the plowman first manipulates the main lever B, so as to shift its position from that seen at Fig. l to that shown in Fi 3, or in other words, so as to interlock the'latch bar of lever B with the notch t on the segment H, whereby the furrow wheel f is set at the proper, or desired, elevation, or above the bottoms of the plows, to permit the opening of the first furrow. After this furrow shall have been opened, the plow man then depresses and returns the lever B to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1, when, as a necessary consequence, the lowermost part of the periphery of the furrow wheel, will lie in precisely the same horizontal plane, in which lie the bottoms of the plows e. In continuing the use of the plow, the operator never changes this position of the main lever B; but he can, at pleasure, vary the depth of plowing, by sim ply manipulating the hand-lever G; which, as before remarked, is pivoted to the casting A, and may be engaged with, and disengaged from the segment D, at pleasure; and by raising, or lowering, and setting at different elevations the handle end of lever O, the landwheel P will be raised and lowered, to vary the depth of plowing, as maybe desired. Of course, during the progress of the machine, after having had its draft bar properly adjusted, in accordance with the team hitched to the machine, the plowinan manipulates the draft lever J, in a manner well understood, to make the plows take more, or less, land, according to variations in the character of the land in difierent parts of the field being plowed, and, as usual with this type of ma-' chine, this landing, or draft, lever J is set, (to start With,) so as to be interlocked with about the middle point of the segment C, so that the plowman can swing the rear end of the lever sidewise, to about the same extent, in each direction; but, as is well understood, aside from this means for slightly shifting the draft, sidewise, during the travel of the plow, it is necessary that some such means as hereinabove shown and described, be employed for makingapermanent variation, er adjustment, both laterally and vertically, of the forward end of the draft bar, to adapt the machine to radically different characters of work, and

more especially to render it capable of working properly, when either one, or a series of draft animals have to be employed to pull the machine through the field; and, as will be easily understood, the novel adj usting'device which Ihave herein shown and described, enables me to make all the necessary permanent adjustments, so to speak, of the forward end of the draft-bar, by simply loosening the nut of the single bolt 01, and shifting the movable parts as hereinbefore explained, and then relocking them by tightening up the said nut; and it will be seen that by means of this novel draft adjusting means, a machine is afiorded for use, the draft adjustment of which can be mostly easily, and, at the same time, accurately elfected, by even an unskilled operative, and with great expedition.

As heretofore constructed, wheeled plows have been so organized, that whenever it might be necessary to elevate, or depress the land-wheel, in order to change the depth of plowing, the furrow-wheel would also have its position changed, relatively to the plows, and would then have to bereadjusted, so as to have the lower part of its periphery in plane with the bottoms of the plows. In my improved machine, however, the furrowwheel, after having once been set for plowing, after the opening of the first furrow,

never has its relationship to the plow bottoms changed, although the land wheel may be raised and lowered, as occasion and circumstances may require; and, in order that perfeet adjustment may be accomplished, I preferably provide the connecting rod G with the take-up device a so that in the putting together, or the assemblage, of the parts of the machine, at the manufactory, after having approximately fixed the proper position, for plowing, of the furrow wheelf, with the main lever B set at a given notch of segment H, I take up, or let out, the connecting bar G, so as to perfect the adjustment of the furrowwheel f, and, hence, after the machine shall have been put in the field to work, all that the plowrnan has to do, to be assured of having the furrow-wheelf in precisely the rig-ht position, is to set the main shaft B, after the first furrow shall have been opened, in that notch known to be the proper'one, in which to keep the lever B locked, during all the rest of the work to be done. The notch 4, near the upper end of the segment H, is properly located, so that when the main lever B shall have been engaged with said notch, the furrow wheelf will have been elevated to about the proper average height for the opening of the first furrow; and when it may be desired to run the machine over the field without plowing, the plows e are lifted clean up, or away from the land, by turning the main lever B clear down until its latch bar shall engage with the lowermost notch 1, of the standard II.

This construction, or combination of devices, by means of which my improved plow can be used as explained, I consider a very important part of my invention. Wishing it to be understood that while I have shown this part of my invention, and also that part relating to the adjustment of' the draft-bar, comprised in a single machine, the said separate features of my invention may be used singly, with more, or less, advantage; and also wishing it to be understood thatI do not limit my invention, in either particular, to all the precise details of construction shown and described.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In awheeled plow, the combination, with the main-frame, or beam; the land and furrow-wheels; and the crank-axles on which said wheels are, respectively, mounted, of a mechanism operating (by the manipulation of a hand lever) to properly set the furrowwheel, either for the turning-of a first furrow, or for the subsequent, plowing. operations; and a lever mechanism which may, at pleasure, be either worked independently of said furrow-wheel setting-mechanism (to raise and lower the laud-wheel), or be locked to and controlled by said first named mechanism; all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a wheeled plow, the combination, with the main-frame, or beam; the draft-bar; and the landing, or draft, lever, of a draft-bar plate which supports the forward end of said draft-bar, and has an elongated perforation; a toothed, or serrated, adjusting, dial-like, device one part of which is secured to the forward end of the said landing lever, and the other part of which is adjustably connected with said draft-bar plate; and a securing bolt and nut, operating to clamp together the said plate and the said parts of the dial-like device after their relative adjustmentfin any desired positions; all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of November, 1893.

WILFORD II. HOLSCLAW.

In presence of O. W. SCHRADER, LEONARD M. Dow. 

